On Friday, June 8, 2012 1:47:31 PM UTC-4, Ramy wrote:
So much for those who claim that powerflarms are only needed in contests....

Ramy

To paraphrase Douglas Adams (author of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"):

"I find that any technology invented before I turned 25 to be absolutely indispensable. I will grudgingly make use of any proven-to-be-useful technology that is invented before I turn 50. As for any technology invented after I turned 50, I'm pretty sure that it comes straight from the devil... and he can keep it."

As an over-50 former tech geek, Adam's observation seems spot on to me. My university hooked me on email in 1983. My cellphone came along later in life... so I mostly keep it turned off. Facebook and Twitter are plainly demented and evil.

Adam's adage breaks down for me for anything soaring related. I'm a newbie and I have a "beginner's mind". I'm naive, relatively inexperienced in soaring, and totally open to good ideas. I can only scratch my head... why would the soaring community not want to install a device that substantially reduced the chances of mid-airs? A $2000 add-on to a $50,000 glider??? (An S-mode transponder seems like a good idea as well. I mean... TCAS.)

Back to Adams. Once you turn a certain age, there's a tendency to see new technologies in a negative light. How much does that reluctance to take up new game changing technologies invented after a certain point in life affect the wider deployment of Powerflarm? I'd like to think, that once Power Flarm is out of "Beta Test", that it will catch on quickly. That five mile ridge that I fly gets awfully crowded on Sunday afternoon.

I'm very grateful to the racing community for proving the value of PowerFlarm (and ferreting out the glitches). Flarm would never happen in the USA without these pilots. Thank you.